Last Night's Town Council Meeting Recap

RECAP JANUARY 17

Last night’s town council meeting was quick and to the point.  It started off with this year’s Fire Department Officer’s promotion ceremony.  The Lisbon Reporter congratulates these Firefighters on their promotions.  The rest of the meeting went very quickly because there were no real issues addressed. 

Bates College students presented the town with signage of the history of Lisbon with several hard copies of various subjects to be posted along the trails outlining historical information about the site.  This was very well down by the students.

There was no real update to the Lisbon Connection problem.  There is funding to keep the operations going through April and the town is looking for additional funds to cover the remaining time.  There is a possibility it may come to a 50/50 cost sharing.

There was a meeting held between the Green Thumb Gang and the Parks Ranger (Verla Brooks) reference taking care of the numerous gardens in Lisbon.   The Park Ranger is going to categorize all the gardens in order to protect them better. 

The town manager announced the County Commissioners will conduct a walk-through of the Lisbon Communications Center on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 3:00PM.  This is open to the public and there will be a discussion period afterward.

 

 Puppet Master Bowie  

"Yes David, I will pull his string to vote on your budget"

Lisbon's Pro Tem Town Manager Stephen G. Eldridge

At this point, the town went into Executive Session.  Another Executive Session conducted behind closed doors to discuss Acquisition of real property and Economic Development under the provisions of MRSA Statute 405 (6) (C).  This Maine Revised Statute states you can hold “Permitted Deliberation” if “Discussion or consideration of the condition, acquisition or the use of real or personal property permanently attached to real property or interests therein or disposition of publicly held property or economic development only if premature disclosures of the information would prejudice the competitive or bargaining position of the body or agency.”  This is not a license to make everything kept from the people.  The town of Lisbon is not in the real estate business so how does all economic development and property fall under this statute?  Why is there no briefing to the public on what is being discussed, in general, if it really qualifies under this statute?  Is this another example demonstrating lack of transparency in Lisbon or just abuse of power by this council?

Larry Fillmore
Concerned Citizen